Truman friends in two groups
War pals, party workers are cronies
WASHINGTON (UP) – The “Men Closest to the President” at the start of the Truman administration fall into two principal categories – cronies of World War I and old-line Democratic Party workers.
If the new President decides to make many changes in the White House official family – and he may not because of the war – the men whom he picks to help him guide the nation’s destiny probably will come from among those two groups.
Politically, President Truman is 100 percent a Democratic Party man.
War buddies are closest
Personally, he has many friends but those of whom he speaks with the greatest affection are the men with whom he served im the last war.
One of them, Col. Harry Vaughn, is probably the closest friend of them all. Col. Vaughn, who also is a veteran of the present war, has been military aide to Mr. Truman since he became Vice President last January.
Mr. Truman keeps up an active correspondence with many of the others. One of his proudest possessions is a dog-eared black notebook in which he keeps the names and addresses of those friends. He says that it lists every surviving member of the field artillery battery which he commanded “and I can tell you a story about every one of them by just glancing through and picking out the names.”
Hannegan is pal
His devotion to the Democratic Party stems from his introduction to politics as a young member of the Pendergast machine in Kansas City more than 20 years ago.
Probably his closest friend within the party is Democratic National Chairman Robert E. Hannegan, who engineered his nomination to the vice presidency at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last July.
Although the presidency carries with it leadership of the party, Mr. Truman can be expected to leave the purely political matters in the hands of men like Bob Hannegan and Sam Wear, Democratic State Chairman of Missouri.
Within the party, his closest friends include New Dealers and old-line conservatives alike. The conservatives are in a majority.